Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1021]
Dr. Lillian came in, took one look and started scolding us for being children who couldn’t play well together. “He’s going to need stitches. Shame on you both.”
Richard stared over her head as she cleaned the wound. I think he wasn’t really glaring at me, he was glaring at Nathaniel. He was genuinely jealous. Jealous in a way that he shouldn’t have been. What had Jean-Claude told him about the ardeur and about Nathaniel, and about what we’d all done together at the Circus? Jean-Claude wouldn’t actually lie, but he might make things sound worse if it suited his purposes. But what purpose did it serve to make Richard jealous of Nathaniel? I would have to ask Jean-Claude about that. I had time to call while Richard got stitched up.
34
JEAN-CLAUDE ADMITTED ONLY to telling the absolute truth. But, he added, if because of that Monsieur Zeeman was jealous of Nathaniel, this wasn’t an altogether bad thing. “He will share you with me, because he must, and he will share you with Micah also, because he must, but we are both alphas, dominants. To share you with someone like Nathaniel—that is different.”
“You changed something about the story to make Nathaniel sound like more of a threat, didn’t you?”
“No, ma petite, I merely told the truth without leaving anything out. He is not entirely happy with Jason either.”
“Jean-Claude, you can’t do this to Richard. You’ll drive him mad.”
“Mad enough, perhaps, to finally acknowledge that he cannot live without you, and that he must come to terms with our triumvirate.”
“You Machiavellian shithead, you’re playing with him.”
“I am trying to maneuver him into doing what must be done if we are to survive. If that be Machiavellian, so be it.”
“You are making things worse,” I said.
“I don’t believe so. I think, ma petite, that you still do not understand men. Many men will give up a woman if they are unhappy with her. But let another man try to claim her, and often, they find they still do want her.”
“You and Micah aren’t competition enough?” I asked.
“As I explained, we are his equals. Nathaniel is lesser, and that will prick his pride more.”
“I didn’t think Richard had that kind of destructive guy pride.”
“I think there are many things you do not know about our Richard.”
“And you do?”
“I am, after all, a man, ma petite. I believe I understand the male psyche a tiny bit better than you do.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Well, give me a heads-up next time you plan to do any maneuvering. You could have gotten one of us killed.”
He sighed. “I do keep underestimating the stubbornness of both of you. My apologies for that.”
I leaned my forehead against the kitchen wall. “Jean-Claude . . .”
“Yes, ma petite.”
I closed my eyes. “Tell me exactly what you think Richard thinks about Nathaniel and me.”
“I told him the absolute truth, ma petite, nothing more, and nothing less.”
I turned around, put my back to the wall, looked out at the empty kitchen. Richard was in the downstairs bathroom getting stitched up. Nathaniel was with the other leopards. I’d given strict orders that he was not to be left alone. I just wasn’t up to Richard and him actually having a fight. It would be too . . . ridiculous, or pathetic.
“And what does that mean, that you told the truth, no more, no less?”
“You will not like it.”
“I don’t like it now, just tell me, Jean-Claude.”
“I told him what had happened with the ardeur, and added my own belief that the reason you so often find Nathaniel around when sex is in the air is that you find him sexually attractive.”
“That did not make Richard come over here and start a fight.”
“I do remember adding that you might find a less-demanding male refreshing after the two of us. Someone who did not make so many